


Baked With Love

by muchmoremajestic



Series: Happy Steve Bingo 2019 [3]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cooking, Fluff, Food, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Taking care of loved ones makes Steve happy, Tony POV, cooking as a love language, reality tv shows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21592348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muchmoremajestic/pseuds/muchmoremajestic
Summary: When Steve suddenly gets interested in cooking shows, Tony finds out why.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Happy Steve Bingo 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1540204
Comments: 4
Kudos: 129





	Baked With Love

**Author's Note:**

> For Happy Steve Bingo, N3, Free Space - Cooking

From the kitchen counter, Tony watched a small throw pillow fly across the room and land on the floor under where the TV was attached to the wall. 

“OH COME ON!” Steve shouted. Steve was usually pretty calm, very levelheaded. Desirable qualities for a team leader. To hear him sound so annoyed was unusual - not that Tony constantly paid attention to Steve’s temperament, of course.

Tony had run to the kitchen to grab some snacks to return to his workshop, so he hadn’t been paying attention to what Steve was watching on TV when he first walked into the common area. Curious to see what got Steve worked up in a kind of fury usually reserved for a losing sports team, Tony peeked his head into the living room to see what the problem was.

On the TV, four bakers were frantically running around a kitchen set, grabbing supplies from a shelf. A woman dropped a container of flour and it burst onto the floor. A man with a handlebar mustache started whipping a mixing bowl.

Steve was watching a cooking competition show. And getting pretty damn worked up about it. 

Sam and Nat were also in the living area, their eyes glued to Steve instead of the TV. 

“I can’t believe Bradley is making a cheesecake again. Didn’t he listen to the judges last time? He’s playing it safe! And that’s hardly a crumble topping! It’s like he wants to go home. Sam, are you seeing this?!”

Sam stared at Steve at a loss. “Oh yeah, I’m seeing it alright.”

Nat slowly eased herself off the couch to join Tony in the kitchen. 

“So . . . what the hell is that?” Tony whispered. 

Nat leaned against the kitchen counter with her back to the living area. “ _Extreme Baking Throwdown._ Steve was complaining that he was a terrible cook. He would try to follow recipes but he needed to get techniques down first. So I told him to watch cooking shows on TV and videos on YouTube. And this has been going on all weekend.”

“So you did this?”

“I didn’t realize I was creating a monster!”

“Why does he even wanna cook so bad?”

“Don’t know. He said he wanted it to be a surprise.”

“OH MY GOD NAT, BRADLEY DROPPED HIS CHEESECAKE,” Steve screamed from the living room. 

Nat looked at Tony, grabbed a bag of chips from a cabinet and turned to go back to the couch. “What? Don’t give me that look. It’s actually a pretty entertaining show.” 

Curiosity got the better of Tony, and he joined them all on the couch. Tony’s plopping down on the couch was the only thing that seemed to break Steve’s concentration from the TV. He mumbled a quiet, “Oh hey, Tony” with a small blush behind the ears, as if he had a sudden awareness of where he was again. It was pretty adorable, Tony thought, getting comfortable and turning to the TV. 

Nat had a point. _Extreme Baking Throwdown_ was pretty good. And so was _Wing Wars_ , and _Salad Masters_ and _Spice Battle: Paprika vs. Saffron_. 

“Hey, JARVIS, write down the ingredient list for that raspberry vinaigrette dressing, that sounds good.” 

Before he knew it, Tony had spent the rest of the day on the couch with the others, getting just as hyped up about frying techniques as Steve was. 

“Tony, we need a blast chiller for the kitchen,” Nat said, as she finished the chips. 

“And that fancy bamboo cutting board Chef Amelia was using to prepare her salad,” Sam called from the kitchen, finally giving in and making himself a meal after several hours of watching delicious food be prepared.

“Already ahead of you. Ordered both during the last commercial break. Damn this addictive network,” Tony said, scrolling through a website and picking out new bakeware for the communal kitchen. He turned to look at Steve.

“What about you? Any requests?” 

Steve thought about it. “Would it be too much to ask for a few blocks of that fancy parmesan cheese they were cooking with?” he asked shyly.

“Too much to ask? Of course not. Actually, it’s a great idea. Just don’t tell Clint we have this though, he’ll eat the whole damn thing.” 

Steve smiled. “Thanks, Tony.” 

Tony ignored the flutter of warmth in his chest when Steve smiled at him, just like he always ignored when his feelings for Steve reared their head. 

Tony had learned to push his feelings down. Steve was nice, but sometimes just seemed so distant, quiet. Not eager to upset the team dynamic by confessing his feelings for someone that didn’t seem interested, Tony was more than willing to keep his mouth shut. 

Despite that, it was still fun to see Steve get this excited over something. But after a long afternoon in front of the TV, Tony needed some mental stimulation, and he stood up and left for the workshop.

* * *

A few weeks later, Tony was tinkering away on a suit when he got a text from Steve. 

> _You’re still around the compound tonight, right?_

< _Yeah I’ve got no plans tonight. Just spending some time working on a new suit. Why?_

> _Just wondering_

And after a moment, a second text

> _Could you stop by the common space?_

Intrigued, Tony responded right away.

< _Sure. I’ll be right over_.

Tony cleaned up and walked over to the common area. Steve was sitting on the couch, the TV off and the lights dimmed. When Steve saw Tony he immediately stood up.

Tony noticed that Steve was dressed up, a collared shirt that showed off his waist very well with ironed slacks and shoes. 

“You look really great, Steve,” Tony said. “Got something special planned?”

Steve smiled. “Uhh, maybe?” 

“Do you need help with something?” Tony asked, looking around.

“I was actually hoping we could talk for a moment.” He made a gesture for Tony to join him on the couch and sat back down. 

“Oh! Sure. What’s up?” Tony asked as he sat down next to Steve, who now seemed very nervous. 

Steve took a deep breath and turned to Tony.

“I need to tell you something. I’ve thought about this for a long time but I honestly just need to say it and get it off my chest and once I know you know then no matter what I can be at peace.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?” 

“Tony, I know we butt heads sometimes and we don’t always see eye to eye. But you know I care about you so much. Both as teammates and as friends. But the truth is, I don’t actually let on _how_ much I care about you. It’s more than that. I’ve - I’ve had feelings for you for the longest time, Tony,” Steve said nervously. 

Tony was in shock at what he was hearing.

“My stomach always does a little flip when I see you. You make me smile and want to be better and learn more about the world. You’re so brilliant and kind and I admire you so much and now I’m rambling and listen it’s totally okay if you don’t feel the same I just needed you to know -”

Tony snapped to attention and reached for Steve’s arm. “ _No,_ Steve - of _course_ I feel the same way. I just wasn’t expecting this, you usually get so quiet around me, I just didn’t think you were that interested in me.”

“You what?”

“Yeah, sometimes it seemed like when we were all just hanging around you’d just clam up around me. I know we’re all friends but I just assumed you wanted me at a small distance.” 

“Oh god - Tony, no - I never wanted you to think anything like that. If anything, maybe I just put myself at a distance because _I_ didn’t know how to deal with my feelings. I’m so sorry, Tony - if I had known you thought that I would have just come clean ages ago.” Steve took Tony’s hand and gave it a loving squeeze, sitting in silent contemplation for a moment. 

“So you - you just said you felt the same way?” Steve asked, like he wasn’t sure if he misheard.

“Absolutely,” Tony said as he reached up and cupped Steve’s face. “You’re amazing, Steve.”

A small blush went across Steve’s cheeks. “Would you like to go to dinner with me?”

“Of course! When did you have in mind?”

“Right now?”

Tony looked down at his gray lounge pants and black tank top. “Oh, I’m not dressed for -”

“That’s okay. You always look good and we’re not going very far.” Steve blushed and grabbed Tony’s hand, guiding him toward one of the conference rooms. 

Steve walked Tony to one of the smaller conference rooms, one that had the curtains closed so no one could see inside. Steve opened the door and gestured for Tony to enter. When Tony did, he saw an elaborate meal on full display. A table setting for two lay on the conference table, with a beautiful spread of food next to it. The harsh fluorescent lighting was replaced with many candles across the room. Soft music played in the background. 

Tony could see Steve studying him out of the corner of his eye. 

“I know it’s not the elegant bistros of Paris or the ristorantes of Florence, but -”

“It’s wonderful, Steve. Did - did you make all of this?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you didn’t know how to cook.”

“I didn’t, at first. So I tried to learn. I was trying to follow recipe cards. That was my mistake.”

It clicked for Tony. “The TV shows -”

Steve tapped his head. “Eidetic memory. I’m a visual learner. I just needed to see how these chefs were making things. The rest was easy enough to follow along. And as it turns out now that I know how to cook without burning the kitchen down, it’s actually pretty fun, and makes me feel pretty accomplished.”

Tony looked at the several course meal in front of them. “You should feel accomplished, look at this spread.”

He turned around and saw a beautiful strawberry ricotta cheesecake on a pedestal and realized it looked familiar.

He pointed at it. “Is that Bradley’s cheesecake?” 

Steve almost scoffed. “ _I_ improved it. Fixed the layers and added more fruit. I refuse to make the same mistakes he did.”

Tony smiled and they both laughed, slightly easing Steve’s nerves. 

“Shall we sit down?” Steve pulled out a chair for Tony, who sat down happily.

“So why cooking?” Tony asked as Steve poured them each a glass of wine. 

“I know you go around to these fancy dinners and galas and have some of the best food in the world. I want to treat you like the special amazing man you are, right from the start.” Steve started to plate the food.

“You started cooking because of me?” 

“Yeah . . . it makes me happy to be able to take care of someone I care about, and to make them happy too. So if I was gonna ever tell you how I felt, I wanted to do it right, and start taking care of you right from the start,” Steve answered as he sat down next to Tony, putting their plates on the table.

Tony felt himself melting. How moving it was to have Steve put his heart and soul into making this meal, and this night, just in the hope that Tony might feel the same. The thought sent a jolt through Tony’s body and propelled him forward. He gently reached over and cupped Steve’s face, meeting Steve’s lips in a sweet, tender kiss. 

“I - you haven’t even tasted the food yet.”

Tony laughed as he could feel his heart do a little flip. He already had feelings for Steve, but now he could feel himself plunging deeper, falling for Steve more and more with each passing second. “Steve, I’m sure I’ll love it.”

“Wait! I almost forgot.” Steve got up and grabbed a cheese grater and one of the parmesan blocks Tony had ordered, and quickly grated the cheese over their dishes.

“So that’s why you wanted the cheese.” Tony finally truly examined his plate as Steve finished grating. “Is that risotto?”

‘Lemon chicken risotto with peas, yeah.”

“Steve, it looks incredible!”

“I’m literally not going to be able to watch you take the first bite.” 

Tony picked up the fork and dipped it into the dish. The first bite of the risotto was heavenly - creamy, and the rice perfectly done. He turned to compliment Steve, who had actually covered his eyes so he couldn’t see Tony’s reaction. 

Between the amazing food and how sweet and endearing his new partner was, Tony knew in that moment that he was in love.

“Steve?” 

Steve moved his hands away from his eyes.

“This is incredible. You’re incredible. Thank you so much.” Tony took one of Steve’s hands, kissed it and squeezed it and Steve’s eyes lit up. 

Tony couldn’t find the words to articulate how much Steve meant to him, but Tony knew that there were other ways to say ‘I love you’. Steve had already found one.

**Author's Note:**

> If you like Marvel and have ever lost an entire afternoon watching shows like Top Chef or Holiday Baking Championship we'd probably be good friends. And yes, I imagine the competition on Salad Masters would be relentless.
> 
> I'm muchmoremajestic on tumblr and vrose23 on discord


End file.
